The ancient art of Tai Chi, translates as the “Great One”. Tai Chi is practised almost uniformly for health and well-being. It is mostly (not always) promoted as an exercise routine for elderly people. The picture shown above is of the Tai Chi Master, Yang Chenfu and he is displaying “single whip”. Soke Kanazawa introduced Tai Chi 40 years ago in 1982. He taught the 24 step Yang short form from the National Chinese Tai Chi Association. He gave me their booklet complete with DVD but written in Chinese and therefore going back to front. The 24 step form is based on the Yang style of Tai Chi. There was some resistance to the practice of this “soft” martial art from seasoned Shotokan karateka. Mr K’s reasoning was that Tai Chi provided a balance to the hard training embodied in Shotokan. He also suggested that practising Tai Chi might improve one’s karate by helping the body to relax more during movement and delivery of technique, allowing for a greater focus or kime.
Having studied and practised Tai Chi for many years now, I have come to appreciate the possible martial applications of the moves. They certainly won’t work if you perform them slowly!! but no Tai Chi expert I’ve seen on Youtube demonstrates the application slowly; they tend to be lightning quick and vey effective.
The highly decorative descriptions put people off and often lead to ridicule. This is unfortunate and very disrespectful:
Single whip, brush knee, parting the horses mane, wave hands like clouds. What are the karate equivalents?
Single whip looks like a tate shuto block with a bird’s beak strike to a vital area
Brush knee is surely gedan barai, gyaku zuki
Parting the horses mane is/could be uchi uke, gyaku zuki
Wave hands like clouds looks very like mawashi uke
If we accept that all things karate came originally from China, then its not really surprising to see a common theme running through Tai Chi, Kung Fu, Shotokan, Shito Ryu and Goju Ryu. Different martial arts, not necessarily better.
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